Brian Tyree Henry is accustomed to portraying characters who are shouldering some massive burden. He broke out in Atlanta, in which he played Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, a drug-dealer-turned-rapper forced to reckon with the dangers of his old life and the bizarre nature of fame. In Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of If Beale Street Could Talk, he played Daniel Carty, a man still haunted by the fallout of a wrongful conviction. In Causeway, he played James, a mechanic beset by a heavy one-two combination of grief and guilt. Henry’s performances go beyond what is on the page. He makes them physical: the exasperation (and in some instances, outright sadness) is in the deep sighs, the eye rolls, the tension in his shoulders; even the way he walks. It’s an intangible Henry’s been credited for, a true hallmark of his work. When we talk in late March, he’s amused by the idea that he’s exceptional at playing the aggrieved and beleaguered.
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